Physical aggression, relational aggression and anger in preschool children: The mediating role of emotion regulation

In early years, anger in children may cause aggressive behaviors. Previous studies show that the development of emotion regulation decreases anger and aggression in children. In this study, the mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between children's anger expression levels and their physical and relational aggression was investigated using structural equation modeling. The participants of the study consisted of 751 36- to 72-month old children living in Turkey (384 males, 50.7%; 367 females, 49.3%; average of age = 4.13; SD = .78). The data on anger-expressing levels and emotion-regulation skills of children were evaluated by their mothers, and the data on their physical and relational aggression levels were evaluated by their teachers. Expressions of anger indirectly predicted both physical aggression (beta = .14, p < .01) and relational aggression (beta = .10, p < .01) through emotion regulation significantly. The emotion regulation has the full mediator role in the relation between anger, physical, and relational aggression. The results further showed that children's feelings of anger may not turn into aggressive behavior, thus the study emphasizes the importance of supporting the development of emotion-regulation skills in the preschool period.